Paris is always a good idea. ~Audrey Hepburn

Aspartame is Now AminoSweet but is it Safe?

Aspartame, it's in so many products and because of that, one would think it's safe...or is it? I never really paid attention to aspartame until I started an Atkin's Diet. Okay, until I restarted an Atkin's Diet and became serious about following it. The rules are no aspartame so I started reading my package labels on various products to assume I didn't violate the rules and low and behold, it's in almost everything that is touted as low sugar or sugar free.

A big misconception that many have is if it's been approved by the FDA, it's deemed safe. What some forget to understand that although drugs go through a long term process of clinical testing to ensure safety has been achieved, there are rarely any long term studies done to assess safety or to understand mixing of different drugs, conditions and so forth. No one will know with certain if something is safe because there are too many factors involved whether it's genetic, environmental or a reaction with another drug. We all have seen the recall notifications and class action lawsuits against approved drugs that were later found to cause deaths or other serious medical complications.

The artificial sweetener debate has been going on for some time and there was even one that was taken off the market year's ago which makes me think if one was bad, why not the rest? In my e-mail box this morning, there was a story on asparame's new name change which the story eluded that the company's name change was one of profit versus concerns for the health of its consumers.

Aspartame was discovered 25 year's ago by mistake and was initially going to be marketed to be used as a drug for ulcers. Due to its sweet taste, it was sent to the FDA as a food additive. The story notes that even one of the origin company's scientist objected to its use but it passed the FDA anyway. The articile claims that aspartame causes neurological brain damage, cancerous tumors, endocrine disruption among other things. The new name is AminoSweet.